by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News May 9, 2023

North Carolina Central University basketball player Devin Butts died on Friday after collapsing earlier in the week while playing in the university’s main gym, NCCU’s athletic director said Sunday.

No cause of death has been reported.

NCCU Athletic Director Louis Perkins said Butts was at the campus’s main gym playing basketball with several others when he collapsed and doctors are now trying to identify the cause.

“We are aware of no history that could cause this,” Perkins said.

NCCU requires the Covid vaccination for “in-person student activities.”

Butts was on track to graduate this summer with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral and social sciences. He still had a year of eligibility to play, and planned to return to the NCCU squad for the next season.

“It’s just so hard for me to even come to grips with right now,” Perkins said. “Just playing basketball and fall out.”

Stephen Fusi, NCCU’s chief spokesperson, confirmed that Butts was taken to the hospital on April 30, and that the incident did not happen at a team event. There was no indication of foul play or suicide, he said.

NCCU men’s basketball coach LeVelle Moton said in a news release that Butts “will always be remembered as an incredible teammate that had an infectious smile at all times. We’re just mourning the loss of a really, really sharp, bright young man.”

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